| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 2160.1 | | PEEVAX::QUODLING | OLIVER is the Solution! | Fri Oct 16 1992 00:11 | 12 |
| Why should we make Apple systems? Because they pay us money to do so.
We wouldn't be in it, if it weren't worth it.
Why do we sell Apple systems. Just a Wild Guess, but I would think that
India and surrounding areas, being basically the "third" world, would
tend to skew towards the lower end of the product range, than
elsewhere. This means that people there can afford less, and so make do
with a smaller machine. It also means that people there, tend to write
"tighter" code, but that's another rat hole...
q
|
| 2160.2 | still confused @!#$@! | TKOVZZ::SARMA | I'm a DECman | Fri Oct 16 1992 02:37 | 4 |
| Doesn't it mean that we are giving up an opportunity to have a wider
installed base ? It is an infant market. So, it is all the more
important to make our presence felt. I do agree that there must be
'some' strategy behind this. But I fail to catch the catch.
|
| 2160.3 | | POCUS::OHARA | I'm rowing as fast as I can | Fri Oct 16 1992 10:57 | 8 |
| We need to be able to sell, at a profit, anything a customer wants. It's
up to the account team to determine what's the best fit. I do hope, though,
that we'd all try to sell our own products first.
My own customer wants to buy all his desktops, both Intel PC's and Apples,
directly fron Digital. So I look forward to this Apple arrangement in the US.
Bob
|
| 2160.4 | Local Access | DNEAST::DUPUIS_STEVE | ABC, it's easy as 1-2-3 | Fri Oct 16 1992 11:21 | 12 |
| India is a country that has strict laws and/or tariffs on the
import of computers into that country for sale within India. In
order to gain a large market share there you must build locally
for consumption in the host country. I have not seen anything
that says these units will be exported from India to the U.S. although
this is a possibility.
The process, where Digital Manufacturing, building product for external
customers like Apple, helps to keep our manufacturing operations
competitive. We do this in the U.S. and elsewhere within Digital.
Steve D
|
| 2160.5 | There is a difference | TPSYS::SHAH | Amitabh Shah - Just say NO to decaf. | Fri Oct 16 1992 12:07 | 10 |
| The title of this string is misleading: it is not Digital that
will manufacture and sell Apple computers, but it DEIL which will
do that. Note that DEIL is a separate company from Digital.
Digital has a stake in DEIL, but not a controlling one (if I recall,
DEIL was started with a 40% equity participation from Digital, and
60% from Hinditron; it has since gone public in India).
That said, I think this is simply one of the ways in which Digital
and Apple are cooperating in other markets (wasn't there an
announcement about this a year or so ago?).
|
| 2160.6 | If we build them, then they're "DEC machines", aren't they? | TLE::TOKLAS::FELDMAN | Opportunities are our Future | Fri Oct 16 1992 12:14 | 15 |
| I don't understand the logic in .0 and .2. What makes you believe that
just because someone buys a Macintosh, they won't buy other DEC equipment?
Or that if we didn't manufacture the machines under contract to Apple, then
no one would, and therefore they'd be forced to buy from DEC.
For the most part, we can't compete with what Macintoshes have to offer.
Even when we can (a chunk of the desktop market), it's a difficult sell.
It isn't the hardware that distinguishes the Mac vs. PC competition; it's
the software.
This way, we get the profits on the manufacturing part (the part we know
how to do), while Apple gets to advertise the machines we build (that's
something they're good at).
Gary
|
| 2160.7 | | BAYDEC::GOETZE | A natural mystic is blowing through the air... | Fri Oct 16 1992 21:53 | 8 |
| The answer to .0 can be found in answering the question, "Why do we
make and sell DOS PC's?" We didn't invent them, we didn't set the market
standards, we didn't make them popular, but we got in that market
to stay competitive in the computer industry, and to help sell our
other products (PATHWORKS) which adds value to the commodity boxes,
I guess.
erik
|
| 2160.8 | | TKOVZZ::SARMA | I'm a DECman | Mon Oct 19 1992 02:14 | 4 |
| I THINK, it does make sense.
Regarding DE(I)L and DEC - I see no difference. After all DE(I)L is
affiliated to DEC and shares the same values and objectives.
|
| 2160.9 | Manufacturing is a product | CARAFE::GOLDSTEIN | Global Village Idiot | Mon Oct 19 1992 20:05 | 11 |
| This is not the only instance of Digital's manufacturing plants
building parts for other companies.
It's business. We have good plants. Other companies have customers,
something we could use a few more of :-( . So we allow our
manufacturing expertise (and it's real) to be sold for profit. Either
we do it or somebody else does.
This is the real world of grown-ups. We don't reserve our favors for
our friends. We don't do favors. We do business. Apple's a good
customer!
|
| 2160.10 | The real money is in the Service | MIMS::BAINE_K | | Thu Oct 22 1992 12:23 | 14 |
| For every Apple DEC can sell to one of its customers, DEC sells a
service contract. With PC profit margins barely at 2% these days, the
service contracts are the much more lucrative piece of the business.
Also, once an account manager has a presence on the desktop, he or she
can more easily find out where other business is where there might be
sales of DEC equipment. Many customers have standardized on Macs, and
they wouldn't buy DEC equipment and have to retrain their people for
the best deal in the world. People who use MACs tend to love them and
wouldn't part with them. Also, except for the new Tiger PCs, Digital's
PCs have been so expensive, that when reps tried to sell them, they
were literally laughed at by customers.
KB
|